Just at this time, one of the saddest chapters in the recent history of PKP draws to a close with the departure for Italy of the final three Class EU11 locomotives from the Bombardier Transportation factory at Wroclaw. Following certain necessary modifications and repainting, they will follow the rest of the batch southwards to be incorporated in the Trenitalia fleet as members of Class E 405. The saga of the EU11/EU43s, which were to have revolutionised the PKP locomotive fleet, commenced in December 1996, when the company placed an order with Adtranz for Eight dual-voltage (3 kV DC/15 kV 16.7 Hz) type 112E locomotives, which would be known as Class EU43, and 42 single-voltage 3 kV DC type 113E locomotives, designated Class EU1.
After 3 February 2004, when a further batch of locomotives had departed for Italy, only three EU11s were left at Wrocław, already renumbered E 405 003, 016 and 042 for FS. The first of these is seen here on 4 February 2004.
Photo: Tomáš Kuchta